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Reasonable is the new Lagom


I happened across the Wikipedia entry for Lagom, a Swedish word with no direct English equivalent:

The Lexin Swedish-English dictionary defines lagom as “enough, sufficient, adequate, just right.” Lagom is also widely translated as “in moderation,” “in balance,” “optimal,” “suitable,” and “average.” But whereas words like “sufficient” and “average” suggest some degree of abstinence, scarcity, or failure, lagom carries the connotation of perfection or appropriateness. The archetypical Swedish proverb “Lagom är bäst,” literally “Lagom is best,” is translated as “Enough is as good as a feast” in the Lexin dictionary. That same proverb is translated as “There is virtue in moderation” in Prismas Stora Engelska Ordbok.

Reasonable is a virtue, not a compromise. I briefly considered changing our name to Lagom Gods, but I prefer our English word ‘reasonable‘ after all. It seems like lagom is much more subjective and personal for most things, so I couldn’t make the same broad guarantee that I do with ‘reasonable’–though I can happily say that our ultrareasonable products are certainly lagom for everyone.


Reasonable Internet Domain Registrar?

The correct translation would actually be “Lagom Godsen”, but I discovered this after I had already registered the domain name “LagomGods.com”. I don’t think we have a huge following in Sweden yet (and anyway they have Ikea, which is pretty reasonable for all things furniture), so I’m not going to drop another Jackson on the proper name. But I do want to find the Reasonable domain registrar. Currently I use GoDaddy, but their interface is awful and I can’t promote something that I get so frustrated with. Yet people ask me frequently which registrar to use, and I don’t have a good answer. If you have a recommendation, please post a comment or send an email, and I’ll try it out myself for Reasonable.

2 Responses to “Reasonable is the new Lagom”

  1. [...] Swedish have a word, lagom, that captures this concept in it essence. In English, there is no direct equivalent, but it is [...]

  2. [...] I’m not as regular at posting new content as I should be, overall I’m proud of the values that Reasonable Goods stands for and the progress we’ve [...]

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